Return of the Ring: From Five
by Phoenix and Moon
Summary: Moon: Five completely normal XX Phoenix: define normal... XX girls go back in time to find themselves playing a big part in a war. Promise to torture all OC's. Set as sequal to Lord of the Rings. Chapters get longer as they progress. Long story I promise
1. Puzzle Pirates

**Moon **here. Listen, I'm sorry that this chapter sucks, but I need to introduce the characters, So the next few chapters, albeit boring, are necessary. So sorry For the wait.

Flame, I don't care.

* * *

Nelena was playing Puzzle Pirates, a multiplayer Internet game, with her 12-year-old little sister, Ria. "Score!" Ria's computer beeped. Nelena flinched at the noise, and then went back to shipwritery.

Nelena Forester was a 13-year-old girl who had grown up very normally. She had known Raul Elstar before they were born, when both their mom's had worked for the same place. Nelena was fairly heavily built, but in a good way. She loved to play with sticks, normally smacking them against trees. It helped her with her enddurace, and she loved the sound of the large pieces of wood splintering against the same trees they came from. She was about 5'2, and she had blue eyes.

Nelena was the older sister of Ria, who was 12. Ria had long brown hair; also, she was only about 4'9. It pissed her off when Nelena reminded her of their height difference, and she was prone to trying to tackle Nelena. She had blue eyes, like Nelena. Her voice squeaked constantly, and singing was a major pastime of hers.

The Forester girls fought a lot, and not only verbally. Sometimes fistfights would ensue, and their mom would have to step in. They grew up in the suburban area, in the heart of New Jersey.

Puzzle Pirates was a very cool MMORPG that allowed people to hang out, play puzzles with or against each other, and get their skills up. Raul Elstar, her little sister, Lilly, and their 3rd cousin, Noeli Sondans, all played.

Suddenly, both computers beeped three times. "Your hearty, Serpentsword, has logged on. Your hearty, Oceanblue, has logged on. Your hearty, Caresa, has logged on." Flashed across both screens.

"Lilly, Raul, and Noeli are on!" Ria cheered. "I'm going to go ask if Raul and Lilly can come over." She raced out of the room and down the stairs, shrieking the entire time. Nelena typed _Hi_ to Raul and got _Greetings _in return. _Navigating, Raul?_ There were a few seconds before _affirmative_.

"Arr! Ye be invited to a chat!" came up on her screen. Nelena selected "join".

Lilly: _This is a cool feature they added._

Noeli: _Yah_

Ria: _Lilly and Raul, You guys can come over!_

Nelena: _Cool_

Lilly: _Awesome_

Noeli: _Yay for you guys_

Raul: _I have an exorbant amount of homework to accomplish._

Nelena: _Then why are you on?_

Raul: _I'm deciphering HW and conversing. Tis called multitasking_

Lilly: _Aww…_

Ria: _Darn_

Raul: _My ears are resulting in affliction._

Noeli: _That's random_

Raul: _No, seriously, the top's all burgundy. It escaped my knowledge that receiving cramps in your ears was possible._

Nelena: _Maybe they're growing pains_

Noeli: _Yeah, and next time we see her she'll have elephant ears_

Raul: _Silence_

Lilly: _Mom's telling us to get off_

Noeli: _Same. And she says I shrunk. Ghyaaah!_

Lilly: _see ya_

Raul: _farewell_

"Serpentsword has left the chat, Oceanblue has left the chat, Caresa has left the chat." Showed up on Nelena's screen. She sighed, then followed suit and logged off.

Nelena went back to her room and opened a book. She had just started this book a few days ago, and she was most of the way through it. She couldn't concentrate, so she threw There and Back Again down, then retrieved her hairbrush from the bathroom. Her hair was thick and dirty blond. _Like autumn leaves._ "Nelena! Come cut up carrots!" Her mother called.

Normally, Nelena would resist, if it were any other chore, but Nelena suprisedly liked this one. Nelena came down, picked up the knife, and started chopping.

Her dad came up behind her. Startled, she whipped around. The knife sliced across her hand cleanly. Her gaze dropped to her palm. It wasn't even bleeding! _Heh,_ _Strange._ Nelena went back to chopping carrots. She could have sworn that the knife should have sliced through skin and bone the way it was going. Nelena decided that the potential weapon had missed.

Nelena brought the carrots to the table, and then went to go call Ria for dinner. That incident then dropped out of her mind for a while.

* * *

If you want to know what the words mean, put it in a review please.

**Phoenix: **no one's going to know what the words mean!

**Moon: **No duh. I used thesaurus . com for most of what Raul says.

**Phoenix: **WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?

**Moon: **I Do not know. Check profile. It might give insight.


	2. Abberant means Weird

**Moon: **Hey! I got one review, probablt from an anonymous, so, whoever that was, could you possibly please resend it? I'm a new author and I had anonymous review on disabled, so sorry.

Here's another necessary chapter, though most of it is Original character history. But there is good stuffs here too!

* * *

Raul scribbled down the answers to the stupid questions. This work was emphatically elementary for her 14-year-old intellect. Her ears really did hurt. She ran a hand over the tips to try to lessen the pain and started. They were tapered! She raced upstairs and put her snowboarding hat on. This was aberrant.

Raul Elstar had known Nelena, (this was described before), and helped her smash sticks. Raul had very short, boy's cut, blondish-brown hair. She hated the fact that Nelena, though almost a year younger than herself, was about ¾'s of an inch taller than he. She had piercing gray eyes.

"Hey, Raul?" her 12-year-old little sister, Lilly, called from her room.

Lilly had long brown hair, and she was 5' tall. She had identical gray eyes to Raul, their only similarity. She was much more heavily built that her friend Ria, but, again, it was all muscle.

"Yeah?"

"Could you come here a minute?"

"What for?" She and Lilly were nicer to each other than their parents thought, but they were still sisters.

"Please?"

"Sure." Raul ambled to Lilly's room. She was crouched with her hair out of the usual ponytail. Raul closed the door. She turned to Lilly, whose face sported a look of fear.

"Does this mean anything?" Lilly pulled her hair back to reveal similarly pointy ears.

"This complication doesn't compute." Raul pulled off her yellow and black hat.

"Strange."

"Agreed."

Suddenly there was a knock on the window. Both Elstars jumped, then quickly pulled out the ponytail and got on the hat. Raul then went over to the glass. There was a lady with pointed ears crouched on a branch on the tree near the pane. Raul cocked her head, and then unlocked the window and let the lady in.

The lady wore a long, royal purple dress. The dress was of a plain, dark purple make with folds at the bottom so that when the woman turned sharply, it flew in a circle around her. Over that was a lavender coat with no ties or buttons to hold it in place. Instead, a thinly knotted gold cross pin containing an amethyst in the middle. She was a very tall being, probably 6 feet tall. Her long black hair cascaded around her shoulders and down to her hips. Her dark blue eyes searched them keenly.

"Who are you?" Lilly started.

"An intruder." Raul growled.

"An elf."

"Huh?" Raul said, baffled. "elves are vagary, naught a trifle more.

"I am obviously proof of your incorrectness. Another example is your ears." At this, Raul and Lilly's hands shot to their ears. "I have come to give you information, news, and a warning." The elf-lady answered. "But first, I need your friends."

"Uhhh…." Raul and Lilly were confused.

"Stay in this room, I'll be back." The lady jumped out the window and disappeared into the dark.

"Should I tell mom?" Lilly asked.

"Negative." Raul answered. "But you and I might desire to get our backpacks void and prepared." So they both went downstairs, took out all schoolbooks, cell phones, everything from their packs. They grabbed an extra, and then went back to Lilly's room.

"Why do we need backpacks?" Lilly asked.

"If that biped was seriously an elf, then I am disinclined to assume that we'll be loitering here for much more time," was Raul's answer.

They both sat down and waited. Soon there was another knock at the window. This time, Lilly got up and opened it. The lady scrambled through, followed by Nelena, Ria, and Lilly and Raul's 12-year-old third cousin, Noeli.

Noeli Sondans had wavy, dirty blond hair that fell just below her shoulders. She liked to keep it in a low ponytail. She used to be 4'11, but for some reason she was now 4'5. Her blue eyes looked confused.

"You waned in caliber." Raul said as she pointed and laughed at Noeli. Noeli glared at her.

"Okay, what's going on?" Ria asked with surprising force.

"More than 1000 years ago, a war was waged. It killed almost everyone. Or at least, it would have if five young girls hadn't come. I have been alive since then. You five are those heroines." The elf told them.

"Heroines?" Said Ria. "That's a drug." They all laughed.

"Us?" inquired Raul.

"Yeah right." Lilly said, disbelivingly.

"What do we need?" Nelena asked, all business.

The four others turned to Nelena.

"You actually believe her?" Ria questioned. Nelena nodded.

"Anything you can carry on your back. There is, err, was no technology, so don't bring it." was the answer.

"But why us?" Ria all but whined.

"Two of you are elf-children, two are ent-children, one is a dwarf-child." The lady answered.

"No way. I don't want to be mixed up in some big ol' war that isn't in any history books. What can we do? We're all kids. We aren't heroes." Noeli argued. "We can't be the difference in a war. Why would we put our lives on the line for someone that tapped on our windows? I, for one, am not going to believe someone who put fake ears on this morning!"

"Wow." Ria commented.

"Please!" the elf begged. "they need you!"

"Who needs us?!" Lilly countered.

"Yeah. How can we, a bunch of suburban girls, be mythical heroes for non-existent creatures!?" Raul chimed in.

"If you don't go back, you won't exist. Please, for your sake." The elf lady's eyes started to tear. The girls shared a look and a sigh.

"C'mon, guys, let's go pack up the backpacks." Lilly suggested.

"Bring hair-ties, gloves, and boots." Raul instructed. Lilly, Ria, and Noeli went to the bathroom to put their hair back. Then those three went to the kitchen and made sandwiches that could last the five 2 weeks.

"Raul, Lilly, we're leaving!" their parents called, oblivious to the other four girls in the house.

"Okay." The Elstar sisters called back, trying to keep them oblivious. It worked.

Nelena and Raul raced downstairs and searched the hat basket. There they found two pairs of gloves. Raul searched the closet upstairs and found the required 2 other pairs. Noeli wanted armsocks. Raul also retrieved her own steel-toed boots for herself, and her old ones for Noeli. Nelena insisted on sneakers. They raced back upstairs.

Lilly lent Ria her old hiking boots and put on her new ones. Nelena tossed the younger two 2 pairs o' gloves. Then Raul and Lilly dug out rope from their dad's workbench. It was divided between the backpacks. The sandwiches were, too.

Nelena pulled out her dad's two pocketknives and gave one to Noeli. Raul got a good-sized one from the previously noted workbench, along with a hatchet. The hatchet went into the pack, along with her and Noeli's knife. Lilly got the 2 biggest kitchen knives and placed them in her back. Nelena's went into her own pack (Lilly's old one.)

"Circumspect." Raul announced when they had all assembled. The lady, along with Lilly, Noeli, and Ria, all tilted their heads.

"She says we're ready." Nelena sighed.

"Okay, here's the staff." The lady handed Raul a white and black staff. Noeli placed her hand on top. Raul put her hand directly below Noeli's. Nelena placed her hand above Lilly's and Ria put hers below Lilly's. "Now, eldest elf-child, say 'csoph yt cedl vu kimr gohiv vji zes'."

Raul did. An irresistible force closed all girls' eyes. Ria tried to scream, but it felt like she was paralyzed. Panic gripped them all. Luckily, as fast as the sensation had come, it left. When their eyelids were released to open, the five were in a forest.

"Where are we?" Ria asked, the fear from their last ordeal still shaking her voice. They all looked around at the forest surrounding them. Trees were all they could see from all direction.

"I don't know." Lilly answered. Ria gratefully noted that her voice shook, too. The others nodded.

"Look, way over there! The trees are walking!" Lilly pointed. One of them had leaves that looked like the season was autumn. This specific tree-walker turned its head to the group, even though they were too far away to have been heard. It made eye contact to Nelena, and she felt herself getting stronger. It then walked away, leaving the other four oblivious, since they had been looking at the other ents.

"Let's follow them." Noeli suggested. So they set off, trying to keep up with the 20-foot trees. Whenever one looked back, the five hid. It was that way until the edge of the forest. Then the moving trees attacked a fortress.

The girls hid in the underbrush and waited. Some humans ran past them into the woods, dropping armor and weapons as they went.

* * *

**Moon: **Such a long chapter

**Phoenix: **That's it!

**Moon: **?

**Phoenix: **Raul is acting like such a computer, I'm gonna frieking jump into the story and translate for her!

**Moon: **So... Which character are you gonna be?

**Phoenix: **Guess.

**Moon: **I don't guess. I know or I don't know. But just to keep you in check, I'm jumping in after you.

**Phoenix and Moon: **can you guess which characters we are?


	3. Rocks and bowstrings are evil

**Moon: **I'll try to post at least once a day for the next week or so, but that's because I already have the first 10 chappies typed up and all I need to do is edit them. after that, I actually have to type them up, so the wait will be longer.

One of my goals is to torture every original character in this story, and this is the beginning of it.

* * *

When it was all over, two days later, the girls came out. They all shared a look. 

"To survive, we'll need weapons and armor. Anyone have any preferences?" Noeli had unintentionally declared herself leader, and no one argued.

"I'm not an archer, so now bow for me." Nelena declared.

"We should all get daggers." Ria said.

"Everyone adorn yourselves in armor." Raul instructed.

"And our choice of weapons." Lilly reminded.

"We'll all discuss issues if they arise." Noeli was being all leader-like.

They picked through the pile. Raul chose white vambraces, shin guards, and a chain mail t-shirt. When she put it all on, the chain protected her down to the knees and down to the elbows. She also grabbed a dagger and a belt. Nelena chose a helmet, a leather shirt, a dagger, and a long sword with a back sheath. It fit well. Noeli grabbed a dagger, a leather shirt, and leather shin guards. Lilly and Ria got decked out in leather shirts, plate skirts, and leather wrist guards. Nelena gave Noeli her pack. When they were finished, they all looked at one another.

"We look like warriors." Ria said.

"Let's practice combat." Nelena suggested. "Noeli's dagger vs. my long sword. Lilly and Ria can have target practice. And Raul…"

"I got it covered." Raul cut her off. Nelena shrugged. Lilly and Ria went off to create targets on trees. Noeli drew her dagger as Nelena drew her sword. Raul walked off.

Nelena slashed at Noeli, but she blocked with her dagger easily. Nelena's balance was gone, and Noeli took the opportunity to slash at Nelena. It hit her collar, creating a rip in the leather shirt. But no blood came.

"Being an ent-child gave you natural armor or what?" Noeli said. Nelena shrugged and swung at Noeli's abs. The dagger intercepted again, but Nelena was ready. She let her weapon slide off its smaller version and went for the exposed ribs. Blocked. A quick upper swing. Blocked. Nelena then executed rapid strikes to the head, abs, and knees. Noeli jumped over the low attacks, ducked the high ones, and blocked the middle ones. She dodged some of them, too. Nelena kept the rapid fire up, keeping Noeli on the defensive. Nelena swung to the shoulder. Noeli blocked with the dagger. Reflex must have taken over, because she punched Nelena in the gut. It wasn't very strong, seeing as the attack was with her left hand. But Nelena still went "Ooof."

"What was that!?" Nelena yelled.

"I don't know." Noeli said back, startled.

Nelena looked at her opponent's left hand. Her eyes went wide; she chuckled, and then burst out laughing. "Dwarves must have been short miners or something that has to do with rock." She laughed again.

Noeli looked at her fist and froze. It had become a stone gauntlet. She flexed her fingers, and the stone moved as if it weren't there. She was kinda freaked by this, and willed it to get off. It did. It formed a soccerball-sized rock and stayed floating a few inches from her hand. She willed it to drop. It did. She willed it to come up to head height. It did. Obviously. Since it was now at eye level, she noticed that Nelena was laughing _really hard_. She willed it to land on Nelena's toe. Painful is an understatement for a solid rock soccerball falling on your foot from 4 ft 5 in off the ground. Nelena cursed gravity.

Meanwhile, our friends Lilly and Ria were having target practice. Or, bow practice.

Lilly stepped on the handle and tried to pull the string across. She failed. Ria couldn't even put it on one end, forget the other. Lilly let go, panting. Ria grunted because the knot she had tied came undone. Lilly decided to try again. She grabbed the already attached end and held the non-attached end away from her. She tried to pull the cord, but when the strain became to great, she let go. Bad mistake. The string flew back and whipped her face. Ria laughed. Lilly frowned because she had a red line running along her face. Lilly got so mad that she lunged at Ria, but her foot caught on something. Furious, she looked behind her to find that the tripping had strung her bow. Deflated. That's the word to describe it. But she shrugged and picked up her bow. At this point, Ria stopped laughing long enough to string her bow. She knocked an arrow and pulled back just a bit. Her finger slipped, and her arrow flew. It wasn't a powerful shot, so it didn't fly fast. But it flew fast enough.

Lilly jumped when she felt something sharp hit her butt. It was like a poke, and no injury resulted, but still. Ria had shot her in the butt! Lilly took her fury out on the tree with an arrow, courtesy of her posterior. The arrow missed the mark, but sure did some damage to the tree that happened to be next to the target.

The little sisters, as Raul and Nelena called Lilly and Ria, headed back to the armor pile after a while of shooting. Lilly had gotten a few in the target, finally, and Ria was pretty good at it. They found Nelena and Noeli sitting, panting, against a tree. "Sandwiches?" Noeli offered, indicating her pack. Lilly and Ria gratefully accepted.

"Raul came, had a bite, and then went off." Nelena informed them. They shrugged.

"Anyone want close combat practice?" Noeli offered.

"We should be able to defend ourselves…" Ria trailed off, then looked to Lilly. Lilly nodded.

"Well, it has been two days, and the sun's up, so I'm going to take a bath." Nelena informed them. She then got up and headed towards the stream nearby, courtesy of the ents releasing the river. She started to pull off some of the gear, when she dropped her gloves into the water. They rushed off with the current, going too fast for her to catch them. She shrugged.

It was a cold bath, but the rushing water sure cleaned her fast. She walked back to the camp, or whatever, clean, but still in the quite filthy armor of the wild men. She caught sight of them before they saw her. Lilly was sitting, winded. Noeli was on offensive this time, and Ria could only try to keep up. Nelena nodded to Lilly, who in turn went to the stream. She went in, and then lifted her hand out of the water. The water formed into a ball floating just above her palm. She stared at it. _I'm a waterbender! _

Later, when it was about dark, the girls found cloaks in the pile. Even though they smelled, the girls found sleep lying on them. The bug population was not a problem for some reason, and the moonlight was comforting. As Noeli rolled around, she ended up on her back. Fear of what might happen kept her awake, until she saw the moon. _Glad the moon here is the same as it as at home._ She thought to herself. That was her last thought before sleep finally overcame her.

* * *

**Phoenix: **WHAT! 

**Moon:** ?

**Phoenix: **The first character to get tortured is ME!?

**Moon: **You know you juts gave out which character you are, right?

**Phoenix:** ... steam coming out of ears...

**Moon: **XDDDDD

**Phoenix: **Urusai!

**Moon: **No, Baka!

**

* * *

**


	4. Happy negative 987th Bday

19

Noeli was getting pretty good with her dagger, but hadn't been offensive with it yet. Raul also noticed that rock bending took a lot of stamina, so Noeli couldn't do it non-stop. The eldest of the group had predicted this, that's why she had gone off the day of training. She had also gone off for the past week and 6 days as well, telling no one where or what she was doing. Nelena and Ria wouldn't have liked it, and it was a surprise for Noeli, the leader of their group.

On the first day, she had gone far into the forest so that no one could hear her. She then started to chop down a strong tree. It wasn't easy, so she stopped at lunchtime to walk back to the camp, where she had a sandwich and watched Noeli and Nelena train. Noeli's rock bending skills surprised her, and then she remembered that Noeli was the dwarf child. Dwarves were miners. So she shrugged it off as one of the other peculiar things that had occurred. She went back and picked up the hatchet again, then restarted hacking at the tree.

She had felled the tree by the time it was dark, and found rest in sleep.

The next day, she had gone off to carve the tree. She was intending to make a 5 ft bow staff out of it. She had carved the tree into a 5 ft piece by nighttime, but it was still a few feet across. She was going for a 2-½ inch diameter, which she had just gotten it to yesterday.

Raul ate her sandwich, and then waited for the others to finish. She then got up and walked over to where she had slept. The others cocked their heads. Raul picked up the wooden weapon and hid it behind her 5'1" frame. It was barely hidden, but the others still couldn't see it. She walked over to Noeli and pulled the present out from behind her back.

"Happy, uhh… negative 987th birthday, Noeli!" Raul smiled. Noeli smiled too when she saw the gift.

"Wow Raul! So that's what you were doing all this time." Noeli gratefully took it. "Thanks! I can't believe I have my own staff after all this time using your spares when we sparred." Noeli got up and twirled it around nearly expertly.

"-987th birthday. Never dreamed of having one of these!"


	5. Izenguard

**Moon: **Oi, sorry there was no note in the last chapie. Oh, and I'm doing a universal disclaimer in my profile, no noone sue. I'm really trying to make it funny, and I think it's working. Just keep waiting for the torture, because I like making fun of my original characters.

Oh, and Anonymous? So very grateful for your opinion.

* * *

Noeli looked at the demolished fortress yet again. It had a tower in the middle, and said tower was still standing. It was pointy and black, and it had a kind of evil grace to it. The fortress obviously used to be surrounded by fields and woods, but demolished areas for working now surrounded it. It didn't look like the good guys lived here, seeing as the plants had probably been making weapons. The ents were still guarding it, but the group needed food. "Let's go," she whispered to the girls surrounding her. They snuck down the hill. When they got to the bottom, they hid behind rocks and peered around them. There was a small building nearby, A shack, by the looks of it. They ran to said shack.

Nelena opened the door. The room was pitch black, causing them to stumble around. Lilly tripped. "Hey, I think I found a torch and whatever lights it." She announced. A minute later, Lilly was holding a lit torch and putting flint and steel into her pack.

"Hey look! There's a tunnel!" Ria pointed to a dark hole in the ground. The girls went in to discover the catacombs. Lilly's torch lit up supplies.

"Sweet!" Lilly ran over to a box of food and started packing her bag. Ria helped her. Noeli filled her own bag with food as well. Raul and Nelena found a box of rope. They picked up some of the gray cord.

"I bet this stuff is weak." Nelena muttered.

"Let's assay said rope." Raul suggested. She gave Nelena one end and took the other. They pulled as hard as they could, but the rope didn't fray. They pulled about 300 yards of it and placed it in Raul's pack. "Assemblage, squelch." Raul said. Following this was a three person "Huh?"

"She says shut up people." Nelena yelled.

"Is that audible to your ears?" Raul whispered.

"Yeah." Lilly replied. "It's like a faint rush of water. And it's getting louder."

Suddenly, they all saw the reflection of Lilly's torch against something as big as the tunnel they were in and as fast as a car on the highway coming right at them.

"Get out of the tunnel!" Nelena yelled. They were scrambling out before she finished. Noeli got out first, followed by Nelena and Lilly. Just as Raul climbed out, the water hit them.

Ria was swept away by the rushing water. "Ria!" was the unanimous cry from the older four. The flood sprayed them with a mist, and that mist drenched Lilly's torch with the help of a splash. Pitch darkness blanketed the room and all they could hear was the horrendous rush of water and the fading screams of Ria.

When, finally, the rush of water stopped, Noeli spoke. "We have to follow her." The others verbally agreed, all with hesitant yet determined voices.

"But we don't have light," was one of the disembodied voices. It sounded like Lilly was holding back tears nearly unsuccessfully.

"What about the staff, isn't it magic?" Nelena's voice suggested.

"Oh yeah." Raul pulled out the staff from its resting place behind her back. The others didn't know this; all they heard was shuffling. "Mohiv!" she burst out. The tip of the staff glowed brightly.

"How'd you know what to say?" Noeli inquired.

"Assembling the bow staff wasn't the singular thing I did while distant from you guys." Raul grinned.

"Let's go!" Lilly yelled as she jumped through the trapdoor. There was a squishing sound. "It's all muddy down here." Lilly called up. Noeli, Nelena, and Raul jumped in after her. They sunk an inch into black mud.

The rescue party started trudging in the direction the water had gone. They had no idea where they were going.

* * *

**Moon: **I know for a fact that the "elvish" Raul is speaking isn't really elvish at all, just a code I made up to use in my stories. Gomen, I was considering using Japanese, but then I thought "I don't know enough Japanese". See if any of you can break the code, ne?


	6. The Waters of Izen

**Moon: **Let the torure continue!!!!!!!!

* * *

Ria got swept away by the rushing water. The breath she had taken right before she went under was almost forced from her by the freezing water. Ria had no idea where the raging water was taking her, not only because she was unfamiliar with these tunnels, but also because there was no light. The darkness made the water seem even more cold (if that were possible).

There was a dim light ahead. Ria braced herself. She, along with quite a lot of water, were dumped into a very large, and still underground, room. There were tunnels leading off of the room everywhere, and a ladder in the middle. The water drained out into the other tunnels while Ria clung to the ladder. She started to climb up and through a hole in the roof of the cave into a stone room.

As soon as she was out of the hole, someone attacked her from behind. There was an exchange of fists but eventually the man had Ria tied up with some of the special rope. The man slunk to the other side of the black room. "Let me go!" Ria yelled at him. The rat-like man just smirked.

Then a man robed in shimmering white walked in. He had long white hair with bits of black in it. Ria wondered if he had dyed it, or was his black hair just fading to white because of age? The old man carried a menacing black staff. A closer look discovered that the cloak he wore was made of threads of all different colors. It was ugly.

He held up his hand and Ria stopped struggling. He spoke with the convincing tone of a close friend. "I am Saruman, the all-colored," he said. "Welcome to Izenguard." The rat-like man ran from the room at this point, answering some inaudible summons. The wizard's eyes followed the man, and then turned back to Ria, who had started her struggling again. "You are strong. A very good ally to have."

"If you were on the side I came here to fight for, then why would you have your servant TIE ME UP!" Ria pulled against her bonds hard with this dialogue.

"If you will not fight for me," Saruman hissed, "then I can't let you fight at all!" He raised his staff. "I will kill you." He growled as he aimed the staff at her heart. Then he whispered "die."

Saruman suddenly stopped. He whipped around in a fury and went the same direction that the rat man had gone. Ria struggled in her bonds and ended up traveling like a worm towards the ladder.

Just at this moment, Lilly's head popped up through the floor. Her eyes fell on Ria. "Ria!" she said, relieved. "You're coming with us."

"Lilly, I'm so glad you're here." Ria told her as Lilly tried to cut the bonds.

"Hey, we sloshed through the mud down here too!" Ria squirmed out of Lilly's grasp to look down the hole. Noeli had said it, and Nelena and Raul were standing below her on the ladder. Ria saw the relieved look on her sister disappear as soon as they made eye contact. Ria laughed inside; Nelena would never show that she had been worried. Raul's face was frozen, void of emotion, like always, which contradicted Noeli's look of complete amusement at the youngest of their group squirming around like a worm. It took Lilly and Noeli's daggers to weaken it. Nelena pulled against it hard, but the rope still wouldn't break.

"Dyv suri!" Raul said. A clean cut appeared in all the levels of the bonds and Ria squirmed free.

"What'd you say?" Noeli asked.

"Cut rope." Raul replied. Then the newly reunited girls climbed down the ladder. The five ran back along the tunnel. Ria slipped in the mud and landed on her face. She tried to get up, but her arms slipped out from under her. Noeli walked over to help her, and extended her hand. Ria took it, and accidentally pulled Noeli into the mud. Nelena walked over, and, careful not to step on anyone, picked up Ria and slung her over her shoulder. Noeli pushed herself up, and the now muddy party continued on their way, Ria struggling and yelling the entire way.

"Put me down Nelena!" Ria yelled. Nelena put her down. In her struggling, Ria slipped. Nelena picked her up again. Ria started pounding her fists into Nelena's back. Repeat several times.

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**Moon: **Please Read and Review, for I will post anyway but I'll probably post faster with good reviews. 


	7. Until the Sign

**Moon: **_is pacing_

**Phoenix:** ?

**Moon:** The title of this has got to be the corniest thing I've ever heard

**Phoenix: **Don't criticize yourself. leave that to the anonymous flamer.

**Moon:** _mumbles_ C'mon creativity, Work! _starts to bang head on desk..._ hrcfkofihmfgyoyngcxkoiurx... Find a better Title!... yxwegftbnrefc imngfmvc,y... No! that is not a better title!

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**Moon: **Oh yeah! _Falls over dead_

**Phoenix: **?

**Moon: **Chapters 4-7 were all added between 1:00 and 1:30 in the morning on a Monday. Skillz!

**Phoenix: **Well, since Moon is doing a happy dance dies from laughter I'll juts have to say what she wanted to say.

**Moon: **No, no _pant _I'll do it. Sorry the chapters are so short.

**Phoenix: **Flames are fun. I'd use my Avatar firebeding skills to bend them into little flaming poodles and cause chaos by running up to the nearest bystander asking them if they wanted to see the flame. it would be cool.

**Moon: **That would be cool. _falls asleep_

Reviews make the **Moon** go round. Flames make a **Phoenix** young again.

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"That place was Izenguard." Ria told them as the five climbed out of the trapdoor that had started this mess. "I was bound by the very dirty servant of Saruman. He is a wizard who wants us dead."

Ria's scrambling caused her to slip. Great. She fell on top of Nelena. Noeli was caught off guard by this and fell on Ria. Raul tried to pick Noeli off, but fell too. Lilly yelled "cannonball!" and dove on top of the pile. This is called a muddy pile-up. Also great.

"First one off wins!" Nelena yelled. There was a whole heck of a lot of scrambling and pushing. Raul pulled herself out of the pile first. Nelena just stood up using the strength of the ents, knocking the others off. Ria slipped, again. Lilly got herself up right after Noeli. Ria was picked up like a sack of taters and pushed out of the trapdoor by her oh-so-faithful sister.

"So, a wizard, huh?" Nelena asked as she scrambled out after Ria. "I think Raul qualifies as a wizard as well."

"Yeah." Lilly agreed.

"Where will we go after Izenguard?" Ria asked.

"To the south is a rushing river." Nelena told her.

"To the north is the forest we arrived in." Lilly announced.

"To the east, a great shadow clouds my vision." Raul said.

"And to the west are hills and mountains." Noeli told them.

"So where are we going?!" Ria asked again.

"Who says we camp in the forest until some clear answer is given?" Noeli suggested.

"Aye." Nelena agreed

"Yup!" Lilly chimed in.

"Yeah." Ria said

"Affirmative," was obviously Raul.

"It's decided then." Noeli said.

The company hiked back to the forest, passing some ents on the way. They hid each time. Within the forest, they collected some of the extra cloaks from the pile. The five used them as beds after a long day.

The next day, they woke up, rolled up their makeshift beds, and ate a little. Raul pulled out her staff and stood ready. Lilly summoned water from the river Izen. Noeli levitated a rock. Ria got her bow ready and aimed at the target. Nelena sighed and fell back, no one was her sparring partner. Noeli and Lilly were going to gang up on Raul with bending. They began.

Lilly's water froze and shot at Raul like a dagger. Noeli's rock was already hard, she just filed it down to a point and shot it at Raul as well. Raul extended the staff and thought the words 'ipisha tkoimf.' Energy shield. The projectiles were destroyed when they hit the shield. Raul then swung her staff and thought 'ipisha zewi.' Energy wave. A sharp wave of energy followed the tip of her staff. It cut through the air towards her opponents. Noeli brought up a stone shield from the ground. Lilly ducked out of the way.

Nelena decided that this was fun, so she got up and drew her sword quietly. As the three battled, Nelena snuck up behind Raul. Lilly noticed her and grinned. Nelena yelled and swung her sword at Raul's knees. Raul jumped and spun around, just in time to be drenched by an ice-cold water ball, the size of an exercise ball. Raul whipped around, and Nelena swung again. She turned. She was re-drenched. Raul got so mad that she extended her arms to either side of her body, one with the staff, and thought 'fuycmi-tofi zevis cessim cemm!' Double-sided water barrel ball. A cold water ball the size of a barrel shot out of both her hands. Lilly caught the one directed at her and bended it under control. Nelena ducked. She ran away, laughing.

Noeli still had her shield up, which blocked the view of Noeli laughing _really hard_ from Raul. She was rolling on the ground, hyperventilating.

Now Raul was really pissed. 'ephis suuv zser.' Anger root wrap. Roots from surrounding trees coiled themselves around Lilly and Noeli. They were stuck until they used their bending to escape. Noeli brought a stone column up under her, which pushed her above the roots. The roots crushed the pillar, and then retreated. Noeli jumped off. Lilly froze water around her, which became spikes when she bent it. The roots fell in shreds. Now the two stood on either side of Raul, but, since Raul thought her attacks, they didn't realize their mistake until they were drenched. 'gemmoph zevis cemot.' Falling water balls. Raul laughed. Lilly bended the water off of her until she was dry. Noeli just glared.

Meanwhile, Nelena had decided that sneaking up on people was now her life's dream. So she was, at this moment, closing in on Ria. She yelled and swung, but her sword was blocked. Ria whipped around to find a wooden shield of roots had blocked the weapon. She gasped, and the roots retreated. Nelena swung her sword again. Ria threw her hands up to block. In accordance, the root shield resurfaced. Then Nelena said the obvious.

"I'm the only non-magic person in our group."

The next day went like this. The girls woke up, had breakfast, rolled up their beds, took turns battling with magic and weapons, Noeli was getting very good with her bow staff, had lunch, explored the catacombs of Izenguard, raided what they found useful, went back to camp, avoided the ents, talked, ate, and fell asleep. Nelena tallied the days in a nearby tree. Then she tallied the months.

As time rolled by, some practice time went to crafting armor and weapons. For Nelena's birthday, they sharpened her sword. For Lilly's, she received a new, strong bow. Raul's sword was sharpened. Ria got arrows and a quiver. Noeli got a new, harder bow staff, the harder wood courtesy of Ria making it denser. So they spent two years.

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**Moon: **_still sleeping_

**Phoenix: **shh, careful not to wake the dwarf.

**Moon: **WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU INSOLENT CHILD!?

**Phoenix: **Yelling won't change your height. and I'm only a couplemonths younger than you.

**Moon:** But a grade below.

**Phoenix: **And yet, stil taller of the two.

**Moon:** Anime crying is the only kind of descent crying _anime cries_


	8. Two years later

**Moon: **Hey! I've got so many hits on this story, I'm so happy! Oh, and all of you that might be skipping chapters, here's the deal: all of them are necessary no matter how pointless they may seem. So please read all of the chapters, not juts the ones that sound good.

Reviews make the Moon go round.

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It was spring, and Nelena swung her sword high. The 15-year-old then switched it to a vertical swipe when a hard bow staff blocked it. The bow staff blocked the swipe again, strong in the hands of their age:15 leader, Noeli. A 16-year-old's eyes swept over the scene then went back to where the little sisters were having target practice. Lilly and Ria could both now string a bow, with the help of Ria's wood bending skills.

Raul's gray eyes had gotten sharper over the time lapse, and her hair had just recently gotten long enough to pass her shoulders. She whipped out her dagger and, without the help of a mirror, cut off her hair. It was now a messy boy's cut. Noeli had to keep trimming her hair because it grew fast. Lilly and Ria just let it grow out, but Nelena joined in the joy of cutting hair with no intention of making it pretty.

Nelena was now a towering 5'8, while Noeli hadn't shrunk anymore and was still 4'5. Ria had also gotten taller, and actually was taller than Lilly. Raul hadn't grown at all. That would make the height order as follows: Nelena, 5'8; Ria, 5'4; Lilly, 5'3; Raul, 5'2, and Noeli, 4'5. Or so they thought, seeing as this timeframe didn't have rulers.

Raul squinted when Lilly dropped her bow.

"Uhh… Lilly?" Ria asked. She waved her hand in front of the 14-year-old's face. Her hand nearly hit Lilly's nose. "Guys, what's wrong with Lilly?" Ria, age: 14, asked.

Raul came over and took a close look at her little sister's eyes. "Her pupils have waned so much that they're microscopic." She told the now concerned others. "But that only happens when the eye is experiencing an excess of luminescence."

"In English?" Ria asked.

"Lilly thinks she's seeing too much light." Nelena filled in. "That's why the black is too small to see."

At this point, Lilly's eyes refocused. She collapsed onto her knees with her hand holding her head. Man, did her head hurt. "Lilly?" Ria asked softly.

"We should go south, then east." Lilly answered. "I saw a white city. They need our help."

"It took two years, but now we have our clear direction." Nelena said. She sheathed her battered sword and looked at the other girls. Noeli had her bow staff sheathed on her back in the same fashion that Nelena had her sword. Ria unstrung her bow and sheathed it. Raul kinda wished she wasn't wet. The girls went to Izenguard and collected food for the journey. Raul went up on a hill to look at the position of the sun as the other girls packed up camp. They left their makeshift beds and joined Raul on the hill.

"South is…" she paused, "in that direction." Raul pointed to a gap in the string of mountains.

"Well, let's go!" Noeli said. The other four followed her in the direction Raul had pointed. After awhile, Noeli called a halt and they stopped for lunch. They ate very little, knowing the white city wasn't close.

When they started up again, the group walked in silence. The only sounds were of the wind blowing, and the shuffling of boots and sneakers. Each one was contemplating what they were getting themselves into. Each ones feet started to hurt at roughly the same time because they had been walking all day. Still no one had voiced an opinion. The sun set, and Lilly said, "We can't go any farther today. There is no sun to tell us our position. And we don't want to be thrown off course." The others nodded. They all stopped and shared a look. They sat down and ate.

"We should go to sleep now." Nelena told them.

"Why!? We're not even remotely tired!" Ria argued.

"No, Nelena's right." Noeli told her. "We'll be leaving at sunrise." Ria and Lilly looked at Raul, and then shared a look of dread. Raul's glare told them that she wouldn't be grumpy.

"That occurs at Circa 5." Raul told them.

"Huh?" Lilly asked.

"She says that we'll be leaving at 5 o'clock." Nelena informed them.

"Oh." They all lied down, and after tons of tossing and turning on the soft earth, they all fell into a fearful sleep.

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**Moon: **Well? who likes it? please review I only have two so if you really like this story than you'll review so that others will read it too. Please! 


	9. The journey begins

**Moon: **Okay, I've been gatting bad reviews lately, so please review if you like it.

Would someone please tell me what a mary-sue is? If it means centered around OC's, then you're in for it. Cause guess what this story is...

This is the last chapter I have typed up. Now when I want to post, I'll have to type up the chapter and soon _gasp_ even write it.

Flamers: okay, so my writing is horrible. I was originally going to make this story for just me and 4 friends, but I decided to post hoping for other people to maybe like it too. So, yes, if there is a part that makes no sense or sounds critical, IT'S BECAUSE THIS WASN'T GOING TO BE A FANFICTION ANYWAY! But i'm going to make it one no matter how many flamers I get. So go ahead and flame. As previously stated I don't care.

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Lilly was rudely shaken awake. She slapped the hand away, hoping to roll over and fall back asleep. The slapped hand punched her. She sat up quickly and looked at Raul, who had done the waking. She surveyed the camp, seeing the other 3 already awake and packing up.

"It's still dark." She said in her sleep-laced tone. Everyone, who continued to pack, directed a thank-you-captain-obvious look at her. She scowled at them as she got out some of the food they had stolen from Izenguard. "I can't see the sun." She mumbled.

"Sunrise will start in a moment." Nelena declared. "We'll know which way's south then."

"Correct." Raul looked at Nelena.

"Obviously." Nelena retorted.

Lilly finished her food and fell over into a sleeping position. Noeli walked over to her and nudged her. Lilly rolled over on purpose, but she thought it was Raul. Lilly ended up squishing Noeli by rolling on top of her. "Oof, Lilly move." Could be heard from under said barrel-roller. Lilly immediately got off.

"South is that way." Nelena reported, as she pointed towards a direction.

"Incorrect." Raul stated.

"South is that way." Ria declared, pointing in the opposite direction. Raul nodded. Nelena grumbled something about little sisters not being right or something and followed Noeli, who had taken off in said direction. After a few minutes of walking, Lilly struck up a conversation.

"So, anyone want to know how I knew which way to go?"

"Negative." Raul mumbled. Lilly glared at her.

"Well, I just randomly had a vision. I was kinda floating in the air above a whitish city. It looked like it was carved into a mountain. Anyway, this city was populated by the strangest of creatures. There was humans, like us."

"Negative, we aren't indubitably human presently." Raul mumbled, indicating her ears.

"Well, whatever. There was also Elves, what I'd assume to be dwarves, ents, and short people. I'm talking majorly short. Like, 2'-3' tall! And they were under siege from an army of human-like creatures. They were all green and brown and they smelled funny.

"Anyway, there were also these towers made of wood that looked dangerous, and these things that looked like trolls, if you asked me."

"Nobody catechized you." Raul muttered.

"Shut up, Raul." Noeli said. Lilly glared at her older sister again.

"And the people leading the army were the worst. One had white hair with bits of black in it."

"Saruman…" Ria muttered.

"Would you all just shut up!" Noeli yelled.

"Thank you. The other had full black armor on. I thought this was a one-sided thing, like I could see them and them couldn't see me. But then the dude in black turns and looks at me. The scene suddenly changes, and I'm floating before a giant flaming eye. It didn't give off heat, but it sure freaked me out! It then spoke. '_Give up. You can only save your friends by living, and to live, you must join the winning side. I control the winning side.'_

"It was so creepy. For some reason, I wanted to follow him."

"Lilly!" Noeli yelled.

"How dare you!" Ria yelled simultaneously. Raul and Nelena just gave her dirty looks.

"No, no, listen. Then I heard 'light. That's why the black is too small to see' from Nelena. Then I woke up. I feel no pull towards him now."

"Cool." Ria said. They kept walking, each pondering Lilly's words.

By the time lunch came around, they were all a bit tired. But as soon as they stopped and pulled out their food, a growl was heard.

"What's that?" Lilly asked in a fearful tone. As if on cue, a band of wolf-like things appeared. They were growling, foam dripping from their mouths. The five banded together in a circle around their food. The wargs started to approach them, growling menacingly.

"Get out your weapons." Noeli whispered. Raul and Nelena drew their swords, Noeli her bow staff, and Lilly and Ria their bows. But halfway through stringing their bows/drawing their swords, the wargs attacked.

Two lunged at Raul, and, through the momentum of her drawing her weapon, she sliced the throats of both in one shot. She stabbed their chests because they were still rolling around. They fell limp. One jumped at Nelena, and she impaled it upon her own sword. But she didn't see the one sneaking up behind her. It slashed at her back, creating four deep gashes in her shirt, but no blood came. She whipped around and stabbed it right in the neck. It fell down, the look of slight confusion still there.

Noeli was having trouble. She would knock away one warg, and another would show up, until she was surrounded by five of them. She whipped out her dagger, and as one pounced, she blocked with her bow staff and plunged the blade into it. One jumped on her from behind, but, without turning around, she smacked it hard enough that the blow broke a few ribs of the beast. One must have punctured a lung, because the warg fell down, dead. Two more leapt at her, from opposite directions. She blocked one and stabbed it, and was about to go take care of the other, when she heard a sickening crunch. She turned to see Nelena's sword impaled in one ear and out the other of the warg. Her gaze flew to Nelena, who was still in the I-threw-it position. Nelena ran over and retrieved her sword as the final warg lunged. Noeli turned to discover Raul had taken care of that one.

Lilly and Ria were pretty good at aiming on non-moving targets, but were having trouble with these. The wargs were smart enough to dodge the arrows. In close range, however, the targets became much easier. Lilly shot at one, and it dodged, but bumped into the one right beside it. Ria shot them both the moment they were off balance. The two shared a look, deciding that was a good plan. They turned around to continue, but the older three had taken care of the rest of them. The dead count was: humans: 0, wargs: 15. They had won.

"Grab the food, others might find this spot." Noeli instructed. They all grabbed their food and started jogging at a fast pace. They kept this up until they met a river. They stopped to pant/catch their breath. The river was about 30' wide, and there was no bridge as far as anyone could see.

"So now how do we get across?" Ria said, hands on hips.

"I surmise this prospers." Raul said. "Gma!" She said raising her staff. The staff flew into the air, pulling Raul with it. It started to fly across the river, Raul holding on with one hand. The staff landed her safely on the other bank. She turned and waved to the others.

"Can't you do that to us?" Nelena called in her loudest voice, which is pretty loud.

"I'll try." Raul called back. "Gma!" She said. The staff started to rise into the air. "No, not you." She said to it. It fell back down to earth. "Um, auy gma!" The staff started to fly again. "No!" the staff came back down. "Sorry, I can't get it to lift you." She called over the river.

"Well, that's all and great for you." Nelena muttered.

"Hey, I have an idea." Noeli perked up. She lifted a stone slab out of the ground and stood on it. "C'mon everyone, get on." The others did, having no idea why. Noeli then used bending to lift the slab off the ground and start across the river. After 20', she fell down on one knee. The rock dipped in flight for a second, then resumed it's pace. 5' from shore, she spoke in a tired tone "Sorry." Then the rock fell into the water, soon followed by the other four.

A rope appeared in front of Lilly, and she looked over to its source. Raul had thrown it. She smiled and grabbed on. Nelena grabbed Noeli and Lilly grabbed Ria. Nelena grabbed the rope and Raul started tugging them in. When they were in the shallows, the able-to-stand did and walked onshore. They shook the water off of them. Nelena dropped Noeli on the ground. "What do we do with her?" she asked.

"We should take turns carrying her." Lilly suggested. Raul nodded and picked her up. They started to walk off, when Ria spoke up.

"You said the city was carved into a mountain, right?" Lilly nodded. "Well, we should stick to the foot of the mountain range, right?" They all nodded. Raul led the way east, because the mountains ran that way.

Of course, no one walked. They all liked rock climbing so much, that they hopped from boulder to boulder. After an hour or so, Noeli was able to move again, and she joined them in their fun.

Suddenly, without warning, Raul, who was in front, stopped. The others crashed into her, but successfully stayed standing. They started to complain, but Raul cut them off with an "assemblage, squelch." They continued to complain until she hissed at them. Then they heard it. A gruff voice was coming from behind them.

"Hide!" Noeli whispered. The girls ran, each behind a different rock. Then a man walked onto the big, elevated rock shelf that they had just been on. He held himself regally, but wore leather armor that had been beaten and bloodstained. But he looked fine. He also wore leather boots of a not so good make. His dark brown hair fell into his eyes as he looked around, pausing at each of their hiding places.

Another man, this one looking much younger, followed the dark-haired man up onto the rock. He had blond hair that was pulled back to reveal pointed ears. An elf. "What's the problem, Aragorn?" The elf asked.

"I thought I heard something." was his answer. He took a last look around before he hopped off the rock. The elf followed him, and the gruff voice started again. A dwarf, by the looks of it, ran to keep up with them. Three children followed shortly after.

"Let's follow them." Noeli mouthed to the others. The girls followed the company at a distance. Sometimes, the man called Aragorn would pause and look back. They would all hide at this point, not even daring to breath. After a very long time, the company finally made camp. The girls also made camp, but it was out of sight. As soon as they were sure that the company had fallen asleep, they all lay down and fell into a restless sleep.

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**Moon:** well, I'm pretty sure that this is the longest chapter so far, and I hope my chapters continue to get longer because most of this was typed up a year ago. My writing has gotten a bit better since, but probably still stinks in the eyes of a flamer. FLAMING EYES!

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


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